If you answered YES to all of the above statements, then you
win! 100%! Gold star – because I did all of those things and it was AWESOME. I hugged a woman who wrote the biographies for
Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson.....................it does not get any
cooler than that!

In addition, I agreed completely with the message she
delivered. It was about a subject that I believe strongly in (probably due to
my brother). She talked of things she
has come to know as absolute truths throughout her lifetime. She quoted LeGrand
Richards and said: “‘I think I am much more interested in the long
hereafter, than the brief present.’" She then added: "It is REALLY short sighted
to not learn everything that we can learn." She talked about the importance in gaining
knowledge, learning and deepening our understanding. She talked about not being
satisfied with complacent knowledge. She said "We have to . . . want
the Kingdom of God more than we want anything else. . . .True conversion
requires immersion." Wow. It was great!

Other than that we had a fabulous week filled with fabulous
people. A particular favorite of mine was sitting in G and S's
house (the couple from Pakistan who don’t speak much English; he speaks a
little; she speaks none). G said the following things:

"She (pointing to S), your age (pointing to me),
your body...your body." You can
take that however you might choose, haha.

As we were asking how to say things in Urdu, specifically, “I
love you”, he said: "You say that in my country, they kill you.”

Another HIGHLIGHT (probably the best part) of this week was
talking with J. Man, I love that kid! He is a miracle. His life is a
miracle. I wish I could give you full details of what I mean by that, but I can’t.
Just trust me when I say that I have never seen such a true change of heart in
a person. It is something you always look for as a missionary and something
that I have finally found. As he told us his conversion story he said the
following about the gospel and I think that about sums it all up:"It
is just a part of me . . . you know?"- J

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

What a week. The
first thing that needs to be said: J
IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! WHOOHOOOOO. He is a cool kid. We got to meet with him
after church on Sunday. He is 18 and took lessons from missionaries/went to
church for about a year. Then the wards split and he kind of got lost in the
mix. This is the first lesson we had with him, but we whip out the baptismal
questions and he's like . . ."Yeah....yeah....Yes.....yeah....ooohhhh Law
of Chastity, but yeah....yeah." Haha. Bless his heart. What a good kid. We are so
excited for him. And he is excited. Please,
please, keep him in your prayers. Once
people decide to be baptized the adversary works SO hard on them.

Other than that, we had some other really good things that
happened this week. There are lots of really prepared people coming out of the
woodwork. What an exciting time to be a missionary!

We did have one slightly heartbreaking experience this week
with one family in our ward. They have a daughter on a mission, but they are
not active. Well, he is not active; she is not a member. We have felt a strong
need to work with this family because their daughter is on a mission and she is
doing exactly what we are doing.We
couldn't even imagine how she must feel about the whole situation. We have
tried to get in with them like 15 million times, but never could. This week we
went and knocked on their door and a little girl answered. She excitedly says:
"It's the missionaries! Dad, can
they come in?" She then excitedly proceeded to tell us that her sister was
on a mission. It was very obvious that Hermano O did not want us there. I
don't know how to explain it but to say that he was almost a little mocking of
what we were doing. It was just
heartbreaking, not because of us, but because he has a daughter doing the same
things. Well, we asked if we could share a message and he promptly left the
room, so we taught J, his daughter who was visiting only for the weekend. She is 10 years old. As we began to teach her,
a special spirit filled that room. We
read Christ blessing the children and then talked with her about how one day we
WILL be encircled in the arms of His love. She was so purely excited; so
faith-filled.

I feel like a great majority of my mission has been spent with
children. I have developed a testimony
on the command to “become as little children”. How
trusting they are. How pure they
are. How willing they are. How
obedient they are. How close to the veil
they really are. The command to become like them has taken on a whole different
meaning as I work here. In the O's home I saw this stark difference, like
day and night, between a jaded unwilling man and a pure little girl.

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the
kingdom of God." Luke 18:16

Might we all strive harder to become as little children – to
become more humble, more teachable, and more willing to heed the will of the
Father.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

All the hermanas in our ward. Hna Spendlove and Hna
McCleary are indescribable (back). They are so unique and I love them so much. I don't
think my mission would have been complete without them! I love this Ward!

Hna Hoj and me.Just . . . . living life.

Hermana Hoj y Burnham

Hermana Hoj y Burnham

This must have been on transfer day. I stole this picture from Hermana Koch's blog.

Hermana Burnham at a mission training.

At a mission training with the Mission President, back row, second from the right.

Pirated from the mission blog. There are so many missionaries that they had to take two pictures. It is very small and hard to see, but Hermana Burnham is in the third row, 11th from the left.

Well, happy 10 month mark to me!Sadly, the ward didn't hold a party for this
one, but I am banking on my year mark being the biggest ward party yet.;)

This week was awesome. We are working so hard and I LOVE IT.
The gospel mixed with hard work is honestly the answer to all of life's
problems (give or take like 2).We had
one awesome experience this week that I thought ya’ll would like to know about:

There is a potential that we have been trying to get in with
for a while now and this week we decided to try him.We went to his house and his wife answered
the door.It was one of those moments
where they open the door and their face changes from "HIIIIII!! Come
in!" – to “UGHHH, the Mormons" – in like a split second.Realizing that she was clearly not very happy
about the fact we were standing on her doorstep, we asked if there was another
day that would be better for us to come back.She told us we could come back Monday.So, satisfied with setting a return appointment, we started walking down
the street and decided to knock on the doors of some of her neighbors.We didn't get very far when a car pulled
up next to us.It was a young kid in his
20's and he rolls down his window and starts to talk to us.At first I'm a little leery, like, "Ohh
heavens, what does this kid want?"Well, he wanted Salvation, THAT'S WHAT.He says:"Hey, did ya’ll
just knock at my house?"We
confirmed the question and he said:"Hey, sorry.My parents
aren't really into all that stuff, but I went to church last week with my
cousin (uncle's family are in our ward) and I want to get baptized as soon as
possible."

*MOMENT OF SILENCE*

WHHHAT?

Hna Hoj and I are both trying to stay calm and not scream
right then.He then asked if we could
set up appointments at his uncle's house.We said – OF COURSE. He then drove away.Hna Hoj and I proceeded to scream and hug and give prayers of thanks and
faaaareak out.

His name is J and he has taken all the lessons. He just needs
to get in the water. We talked with his cousin and there are probably a few
things he will have to be taught first, but we were blessed with this new
investigator who is willing and ready to change his life.

It really was a blessing and an answer to prayer. This month
the whole mission fasted that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on this area
and that the prepared would find us and that we would find them. I stand as a
witness of the power of fasting and prayer. Before my mission I had such a
hard time fasting and I definitely did not understand it fully or even have a
testimony of the principle.It is
things like that that make me THAT much more grateful for the
chance to be a missionary. What would I have done in life without
this knowledge? With the testimonies gained?

"Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words,
rejoicing and prayer."D y C 59:14.

Amen.

Con Carino,

Hermana
Alivia Burnham

P.S. -- We got a call this morning from the Stake Relief
Society President telling us that President Pingree has chosen us to be hosts
at the conference when SHERI DEW comes to speak in like 2 weeks.I AM SO EXCITED!!!

This email is coming from a very happy Hermana Burnham who loves
her new area in the Woodlands! I went from the ghetto, to the country and now
to the wealth of wealths. I have just been blessed to experience a little bit
of everything. In my perfect little world I imagine I will stay in Woodlands
for the next 4 transfers and then spend the last one or two transfers back in
H5. The end is oh so near! AHHH! Don't make me go!!!!!

My new companion's name is Hna Hoj (pronounced hoy). She is
from SLC, UT and is a perfect person. I’m serious—perfect. She is probably the
meekest, most humble individual I have yet to meet here upon this earth. And, she
is basically a Calvin Klein model; she is so pretty. She's the best! And I love
her!

We have had some really cool experiences this past week and
I am really excited about all that this transfer has in store. Woodlands is
going to be great!

1. Our ward is HUGE –
at least compared to what I have been used to in the mission! It is so
organized. I just sat there in awe. Right after Sacrament meeting a woman
(served her mission in Argentina and then married an Argentinian) came up to me
and was like: "I looked at you and thought, THE MONA LISA LIVES!" She now calls me Hermana Mona Lisa. Compliment
or insult? Hahaha.

2. I had the WEIRDEST
experience this week of maybe my whole mission. We are walking around trying to
find people to teach about the gospel and we see we have a voice mail. The
voice mail goes as follows: "Hi, I
am calling for Sister Alivia. Give
me a call back." In my head I am
thinking: "Why would she ask for me as Sister Alivia? Who is this and how
does she know my first name?" I call the number back and she proceeds to
tell me that two elders came and visited her and gave her my name (Alivia), my
phone number (in Woodlands—where I had been for like 3 days), and a picture of
me. What? What elders would do that? She was an inactive member and asked me to
help her find the name of a Bishop. She wanted a specific bishop, but couldn't
remember his name or what ward he served in. So, I am currently in the process
of finding this bishop who could be ANYWHERE. But hey, I guess this is the life of a
missionary.....right?

3. I met two people
this week that I fell in love with instantly. Their names are G and
S. They are from Pakistan and speak no English. But, they feed us every
week and absolutely love us. She opens the door and gives me a big hug and
starts kissing my face and then brings us plates of food. We sang them a song
and held their hands as we prayed. All she could say in English was "God,
good. God, good." We can’t
communicate with them, but we know that the Spirit can. I have never witnessed
such a demonstration of pure Christ-like love as I did from these two people.
Man, I love them.

So many exciting things lie in store! Can't you feel God
hastening His work!

I love you all! muaaaaah!

P.SRyan!
(Lustgarten) there is a kid in my district (one of the boy missionaries here)
who is your IDENTICAL twin! Every time I see him I just start laughing because
it is unreal how much he looks like you.Ha.